What To Know
- Mae Whitman, with a nearly 35-year acting career before age 40, stars as Kate in the Hallmark Channel’s new series Twelve Dates ’Til Christmas.
- The show, based on Jenny Bayliss’s book, follows Kate’s magical and comedic adventures in a holiday matchmaking program.
- Whitman previews one of the dates she had fun filming.
There are few actors who can boast a four-decade career and still be under age 40. Mae Whitman is one of them. She laughs, saying, “It’s so crazy, isn’t it?” when reflecting on her younger days starring as the daughter to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, from George Clooney in 1996’s One Fine Day (Clooney gave her a charm bracelet from Tiffany — “It has all these sweet little charms on it, and I’ve always really treasured that”) to Meg Ryan in 1994’s When a Man Loves a Woman and Bill Pullman in 1996’s Independence Day.
Fast-forward a few decades — with plenty of films (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The DUFF) and series (Parenthood, Good Girls) in between — and you find Whitman now a mom to her son Miles. For her latest role in Twelve Dates ‘Til Christmas (premiering December 5), she traveled to the U.K., along with 4-month-old Miles, to play Kate, a textile pattern designer who is in a rut when her friends recruit her for The 12 Dates of Christmas, a holiday-themed matchmaking program. The series, based on the beloved book by Jenny Bayliss, finds Kate in some very elaborate, unusual, magical and massive dating adventures.
“There are some doozies,” Whitman shares of these dates. “I really felt for her. … She handles them in a very fun and relatable way. There’s one in which perhaps someone doesn’t even show up and she ends up having to entertain herself with the help of some breadsticks and some champagne. That was a fun one to film because they kind of just let me go wild and do what I would do if I was left to my own devices with champagne and bread, which I have been before. I was able to channel that pretty easily.”
Joining her in the fun are her castmates Jane Seymour and Mary McDonnell, as well as Julian Morris, Toby Sandeman, Nathaniel Parker, and Lucy Eaton.
“I’ve been doing this job now almost 35 years,” she says. “And I worked with one of the most amazing crews I’ve ever worked with in my life in Ireland. … I walked away with a lot of really good friends.”
And viewers will walk away with a cozy, feel-good adventure with wishes for more.
Twelve Dates ‘Til Christmas, Series Premiere, Friday, December 5, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel